The Cloves And The Tobacco - "The Day With No Sun" WLRV RecordsRelease date: 25 December 2012Running time: 40:25, 10 tracksThe economists and the media have been using a new word to talk about the new emerging economies, BRICS. BRICS stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. On the Celtic punk world, we have our own emerging countries too. So, we could also use the term BRICS, but this time the “I” doesn’t stand for India, but for Indonesia.

After some recordings by seminal outfit Gerap Gurita, The Working Class Symphony released an interesting EP in 2012. And, at the end of 2012, another fantastic band from Yogyakarta has released a 10 track brilliant album: The Cloves and The Tobacco “The Day with No Sun”.

Piztt and his bandmates have been able to record a kick-ass album with no covers. Believe me, all the tracks are self-penned songs. Hats-off, guys! The Cloves and The Tobacco have created a distinctive sound, obviously with some influences (for instance, Flogging Molly on their classic “Cornelist Street” and the disc opener “Shamrockville”). I love particularly the sound on numbers such as “The Railway” (another classic) and “When Something Goes Wrong”, that mix of fiddle, tin whistle and banjo. But the album also features an amazing electric guitar work. Just listen to the guitar parts on “Shamrockville”, “Boxing Gloves”, “The Railway” and, specially, at the end of “Dance With the Nurse”. By the way, “Dance with the Nurse” is a top-notch instrumental tune.

Apart from the sound, TCATT lyrics deal with interesting matters. Maybe their English is not perfect, but the lyrics are really honest and full of passion. Track no. 3, “The Widow” is a tribute to Piztt’s mother. On my own songs library it should be filed together with great The Whisky Priests songs like “He’s Still My Son” and “Song for Ewan”. “Boxing Gloves” is about dreams that don’t come true. This song features piano and tin whistle and have a Pogues twist. “McGregore was a Sailor” is the pirate song on the album and musically has a sound that shifts from the Blood or Whiskey side to the Paddy and the Rats side. Track no. 5, “My Favourite Whiskey” is a funny song written by Andries van den Broek, a.k.a. The Dutch Irish Bastard, about a guy whose life turns around a bottle of whiskey (Jameson?) and a Pogues CD (“IISFFGWG”? “Rum, Sodomy and the Lash”? Who knows, the title is not mentioned). And the first track on the album is a tribute to the Celtic punk scene all around the world, “Shamrockville”.

The Cloves and the Tobacco “The Day with No Sun” is another evidence that Celtic punk is really global. The recordings coming from Indonesia should not be considered as exotic. The lads on this country are working really hard under difficult circumstances and their own blend of Celtic punk is really interesting. Definitely, a worth hearing scene.